Thanks for the comments, Collateral Damage.

2009-01-21T18:44:00.000+08:00
Thanks for the comments, Collateral Damage.

I think we both agree that reducing power bills can help businesses survive.

But instead of outright lower tariffs, the government can help businesses improve efficiency.

The Energy Commission can work with Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers on standard measures to improve energy efficiency, and govt can provide one-time cash incentives/grants for companies to invest in these improvements.

Agreed that an efficient govt will lower business ...

2009-01-21T14:29:00.000+08:00

Agreed that an efficient govt will lower business costs and agreed that lowering power tariffs has nothing to do with property developers.

But lowering power tariffs will provide an immediate relief to those companies whereby power makes up a big component of their costs. You may say that these companies should be more efficient but real life is not that simple.

Malaysia is known for its entreprenuership and small businessmen starting out may use second hand machines to produce whatever it is that they produce. They become reasonably successful and they want to upgrade their machines. This will require financing. Are banks helpful? A lot of times, they are not. So, stuck with old inefficient machineries. And there are a lot of these SMIs.

Given the current economic strife, these businesses are struggling, not helped by the massive increase in power tariff last year putting their costs out of whack. Reducing power tariff may help these businesses to survive and in turn will ensure that they do not retrench their workers, which could be you or me. So who says a power tariff cut will not have any impact on the people of Malaysia.

Talking about the ineffectiveness of cheap power in the long run is moot if we all close shop in the short term.

- Collateral Damage -

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Agreed that an efficient govt will lower business ...